Sunnaudio has launched its Nucleus NU-1, a dual analogue boost and preamp that promises punchy, cutting tones ranging from clean to high gain.
The pedal acts as a two-channel preamp, and sports a secondary footswitch to change between the high and low gain sides. Each has an independent level control, allowing you to kick above the rest of the mix for a solo, or have a lower gain part be brought up to match your high-gain tone. The other footswitch bypasses the unit.
The low-gain channel ranges from a crystalline clean tone to a broken-up-overdrive sound, while the high-gain goes from pushed clean to saturated distortion, offering up to 60dB of gain.
The centre of the pedal is dominated by a large gain control which, along with the smaller tone knob and ‘focus’ knob, the two channels share. This ‘focus’ control adjusts sub-harmonics and shapes your midrange for, unsurprisingly, a more focused tone.
The pedal has been designed to deal with sounds from both guitar and bass, and sports a balanced TRS output. It can be powered by a standard 7.5v – 12v external DC adapter or 9v battery.
The Nucleus NU-1 lists for $285, and is available over at sunnaudio.com.